A USDA inspector uses a thermometer to check the refrigerated temperature of raw meat. / John Zich

by John Bacon, USA TODAY

by John Bacon, USA TODAY

A California meat company is recalling more than 8.7 million pounds of meat in four states after processing "diseased and unsound" animals without federal inspection, federal officials said.

The Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said it has received no reports of illness linked to the meat from Petaluma-based Rancho Feeding Corp. The products were distributed to retailers in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas in the form of beef carcasses and boxes of beef oxtail, liver, cheeks, tongue and and other meats weighing between 30 pounds and 60 pounds, the service said Saturday.

Beef carcasses and boxes bear the establishment number "EST. 527" inside the USDA mark of inspection. Each box bears the case code number ending in "3" or "4." The products were produced Jan. 1, 2013, through Jan. 7, 2014.

The service said that, without complete inspections, the meat is unfit for human consumption. The recall is a Class 1 level - the most serious - meaning a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause "serious, adverse health consequences or death."

Last month, Rancho recalled more than 40,000 pounds of similar meat products that also failed to get a full federal inspection. The service's notice called the situation a "slip-up." All that beef was distributed in California.